Martha Stewart Living: Clearing the Air on Vacuums

This weekend our vacuum caught fire. It was pretty spectacular, really. I was vacuuming the dining room rug, and all of a sudden I smelled burning rubber, and noticed billows of smoke coming from the bottom of the machine. I quickly shut it off, unplugged it, opened the windows, and pushed the vacuum out on the deck.

Well, we said, we’ll have to buy a new one tomorrow.

Then, around lunchtime, I was catching up on my magazines and had chosen the November issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, and lo and behold what should the Homekeeping column be about this month but buying a new vacuum cleaner!

And so, armed with excellent information about the best kind of vacuum for our circumstances (we’ll be moving to a house with almost all hardwoods, with only a few throw or area rugs here and there, and we have pets), we went off to the vacuum cleaner store. Based on the information in the article, we knew we wanted a canister, as opposed to an upright, and what level of air flow and "water lift" would serve us well, because of the amount of space we’ll be covering. We had chosen a brand, and the article also showed an attachment that’s a great choice for removing pet hair and dander from upholstery. And so, here it is, the vacuum we selected thanks to Martha and her staff and their great advice. It makes me actually look forward to vacuuming!